Monthly Archives: March 2015

IFDB Roundup

Posted on March 24, 2015 by Sam Kabo Ashwell

Being an occasional series in which I go through my IFDB reading-list and cross off a few entries. Benthic Love (Mike Joffe; illustrations by Sonya Hallett). A short, illustrated CYOA made in Ren’Py, with the distinction of being: The ONLY LGBT-friendly anglerfish … Continue reading →

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The Interdependent Ludic Institute of Tlön’s GOTY 201Xa

Posted on March 20, 2015 by Sam Kabo Ashwell

The calendar is, of course, different in Tlön, so in celebration of the impending New Year, here’s my games of the year for 201Xa. 10: LARGE MAMMAL ENCOUNTER (P. Menzies / Nefarious Designs). Technically, this is an open-source AI engine with a … Continue reading →

Posted in videogames | Tagged , | 15 Comments

Women in Crusader Kings 2, part 1

Posted on March 11, 2015 by Sam Kabo Ashwell

Some years back I wrote about how bizarrely, buggily horrible it was to try and play a non-Virgin Queen woman in Crusader Kings. A lot changed between the original Crusader Kings and its sequel, so I figured it was time for an update. … Continue reading →

Posted in videogames | Tagged , , | 6 Comments

A Year Without Zombies 3: Dead March

Posted on March 6, 2015 by Sam Kabo Ashwell

(For 2015, I am trying to avoid playing any games or consuming any static media with zombies in them. My reasons, and other fun things like ‘what exactly counts as a zombie?’, are explained here.) Not a great deal to report. … Continue reading →

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The Yawhg

Posted on March 5, 2015 by Sam Kabo Ashwell

The Yawhg is a hotseat-multiplayer choice-based game. Two to four players each control an adventurer-type character doing stuff in a fantasy city: after six week-long turns, the legendary Yawhg shows up and destroys the city, and the survivors have to choose … Continue reading →

Posted in cyoa, interactive fiction, review, storygames, videogames | Tagged | 2 Comments

ParserComp Summary

Posted on March 3, 2015 by Sam Kabo Ashwell

And with that, I’m done with the ParserComp games (except for actually voting. I should do that). My favourite games of the comp: Chlorophyll, a traditional Space Base Adventure Game with charming writing and a distinctive (adolescent plant-alien) protagonist. Oppositely … Continue reading →

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ParserComp: Three Days of Night

Posted on March 3, 2015 by Sam Kabo Ashwell

Final game of ParserComp: Three Days of Night (spaceflounder). Story: Gwendolyn Starling is a radio astronomer on a moon base; the game opens with an announcement that a first-contact is about to be made. Then disaster strikes, and Gwendolyn finds herself … Continue reading →

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ParserComp: Endless Sands

Posted on March 2, 2015 by Sam Kabo Ashwell

Endless Sands (Hamish McIntyre). Ooh, nice cover art. Story: The protagonist is a vampire; he has been abducted by the local Vampire Queen and dumped in the desert a few hours before dawn, for no very clear reason other than that the … Continue reading →

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ShuffleComp Disc 2: a music-inspired IF game jam

Posted on March 1, 2015 by Sam Kabo Ashwell

Last year around this time I ran ShuffleComp, a game jam / minicomp for interactive fiction inspired by music. Participants contributed eight song suggestions to the pot, got eight random songs back in return, then made games inspired (however loosely) by … Continue reading →

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